Saudis show journalists huge oil project

KHURAIS, Saudi Arabia, June 24 (UPI) -- Saudi Arabia is a year away from completing an oil-pumping project it says will equal growing global demands for oil, Aramco officials said.

The project joins oil fields at Khurais, Abu Jifan and Mazalij with one system that will inject more than 2 million barrels of seawater underground every day in order to push an estimated 27 billion barrels of oil to the surface, the Dallas Morning News reported Tuesday.

Saudis hope to add 1.2 million barrels a day to the world's oil supply, the report said.

The fields hold more oil than all of the reserves owned by the United States, but skeptics said the saltwater pumping technique -- generally used with fields after they've been in production for a while -- proves reserves in Saudi Arabia are running low, the report said.

Amin Nasser, Aramco senior vice president for production and exploration, said the saltwater pumping was used to trim costs.

"Our actions have been louder than our words despite all the criticism and the cynics," Nasser said.

"That makes it even more important to let you see what's happening here on the ground for yourself," he said speaking to journalists invited to tour the facility.